Services Convergence Among Heterogeneous Wired and Wireless Networks

ABSTRACT

A system and method for heterogeneous network communication including wired, and wireless communication mediums for seamless data, voice, as well as multimedia applications independent of the actual communication medium, type of device, and protocols running over such communication channels. The devices are structured to operate over both wired and wireless communication mediums individually or simultaneously in the intermittent or continuous fashion in secure or non-secure mode, after obtaining explicit, implicit or no permission for usage. The system and method described herein allow the communication channels operate in their native mode of operation independent of converged application perception by user of the application, a user being a person, a machine, or any other such entity that can be identified as user.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/845,022filed May 13, 2004 entitled “Services Convergence Among HeterogeneousNetworks” now U.S. Pat. No. 7,466,696.

U.S. application Ser. No. 10/845,022 claims priority to U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 60/470,101 entitled “Mobile Networking Management forWireless and Wireline Networks, filed by Rangaprasad Govindarjan et al.on May 14, 2003. The aforementioned provisional application isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety, for all purposes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The packet and circuit domain convergence for voice leverages thebenefits of both technologies for achieving better value forcommunication expenses. Similarly, the ability to determine the path forsending IP packets through various dynamic protocols is used for routingIP information from different networks and subnetworks.

The said convergence, however does not allow the ability the sameflexibility for determining communication medium similar to the routingprotocols on a group by group basis (for example, Packet by packet,etc.). Also, the arts do not allow such changes in the available optionsdynamically. Besides, the current art for selecting is only limited tothe so-called “core-network” nodes such as switches, routers, and mediagateways.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Services convergence among heterogeneous wired and wireless networks.

In one embodiment, there is presented a heterogeneous communicationsystem for communicating between a first terminal and a second terminal,said heterogeneous communication system comprising a backbone networkfor transmitting information from the first terminal towards the secondterminal; a first access network providing access for the first terminalto the backbone network; a second access network for providing accessfor the first terminal to the backbone network; and wherein the firstterminal selectively receives or transmits information from one of thefirst access network and second access network.

In another embodiment, there is presented a terminal for communicationwith another terminal, said terminal comprising machine-readable mediafor storing a program comprising a plurality of executable instructions;and a processor connected to the machine readable media, said processorcapable of executing the plurality of executable instructions; whereinthe program comprises a session convergence layer comprising a firstportion of the plurality of executable instructions; and a transportconvergence layer comprising a second portion of the plurality ofexecutable instructions.

In another embodiment, there is presented a machine-readable medium forstoring a program, said program comprising a plurality of executableinstructions wherein the program comprises a session convergence layercomprising a first portion of the plurality of executable instructions;and a transport convergence layer comprising a second portion of theplurality of executable instructions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram describing an exemplary network configured inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram describing an architecture for allowingcommunication across heterogeneous networks in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram describing the operation of a sessionconvergence layer in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram describing the operation of a transportconvergence layer in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention; and

FIG. 5 is a block diagram describing an exemplary computer systemconfigured in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Certain aspects of the present invention, there is communication overwired and wireless networks with the ability to direct individual groupsof information (e.g. byte, or a packet) over various communicationmediums in their native format while minimally affecting the userexperience or end machine functioning for consuming and generatinginformation.

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is illustrated an exemplary convergednetwork in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Afirst Terminal 1210 (or Peer 1), is communicating with a second Terminal(or Peer 2), 1260. The first terminals 1210 and second terminal 1260 cancomprise communicating devices such as, but not limited to, a phone,cell phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), a Desktop, or laptop orhandheld computer. Terminals 1210 and 1260 are connected by one or moreof Access Networks 1220 and 1230, the Internet or IP backbone 1240 and apossible intermediate connection 1250. The intermediate connection cancomprise, but is not limited to, the Ethernet, Sonet, IP, Wireless802.11 or other wireless LAN network, Cable, DSL, or a cellular network(data or voice).

Terminal 1210 can selectively communicate over any number of alternativeaccess networks 1220, 1230 either, one at a time, or simultaneously,based on the policies determined through either, implementation,programming, or user preferences. Consider a use scenario in the office.For example, if Access Network 1, 1220 is Ethernet IP network and AccessNetwork 2, 1230 is Wireless LAN. The user puts the Terminal 1, 1210which is laptop computer in its docking station connecting over theAccess Network 1, 1220 which is Ethernet IP network. All communications,including voice, data, and video can be carried over the Ethernet IPnetwork 1220 and although Access Network 2, Wireless LAN, 1220 isavailable it is idle. Now when the user removes the laptop from thedocking station to take to a conference room during the meeting, userTerminal 1, 1210 connects through the Wireless LAN 1203 Access Networkas the 1220 Access Network becomes unavailable, during the time thelaptop is not docked. At this time, all the voice, data and Videosession are transferred to the Wireless LAN, Access Network 2, 1230 withor without the user knowledge and intervention based on policies, anduser preferences to continue the communication without disruption in thecommunication.

In another scenario, for example, if Access Network 1, 1220 is WirelessLAN and Access Network 2, 1230 is Cellular network, the voicecommunication can be carried over the Cellular network 1230 whereas dataand Video communication are carried over Wireless LAN, 1220. Similarly,if a user using Terminal 1, 1210 enters in an elevator and the CellularNetwork 1230 becomes unavailable, then the voice communication istransferred to the Wireless LAN network 1220. On the other hand, if theuser using Terminal 1, 1210 leaves the home or office, the Wireless LANAccess Network 1220 becomes unavailable. At this time, the data andVideo sessions are transferred to the Cellular Access Network 2, 1230.

In a third scenario, the above two scenarios can be combined to see howthe communication transfers from Ethernet IP network to Wireless LANnetwork to Cellular network with or without the user knowledge andintervention based on policies, and user preferences to continue thecommunication without disruption in the communication.

Referring now to FIG. 2, there is illustrated a block diagram of anexemplary interconnection architecture for communication by a terminal,such as terminal 1 1210 over heterogeneous networks with multiple peers,such as the network shown in FIG. 1. An Application Layer 1010 generatesor interprets information, provides mechanisms for generation andconsumption of information, and may also provide encryption, decryption,compression and other processing support.

Communication over multiple heterogeneous networks require matching theResource(s) availability, application requirements for the resources andthe coordination, management, and adaptation to meet these demands. Asession convergence Layer 1020 implements this functionality in thepreferred embodiment of the invention. The Session convergence layer1020 accepts the information processed by a presentation layer 1035 andthen directs the information to the application in such a way so as tonot change the existing communication method by the application to thecommunication mediums. Another function of the session convergence layer1020 is resource management to avoid conflict of resources by competingpresentation layers usage. The implementation of the resource managementis dependent on the implementation on the target application, device,and user.

A Presentation Layer 1030, 1035 determines how computers represent data[ASCII, GIF, etc.]. The presentation layer 1030 and 1035 also includeconversion to network byte order and other processing.

A session layer 1040 establishes a unique communication session, and mayalso associate security, authentication, as well as authorizationinformation to the session. For example, an IP socket can be a layer 5protocol session as defined in OSI.rg.

The transport convergence layer 1050 allows communication over multipleheterogeneous networks with the ability to make decision in this layerabout using a network from the available networks to send a group ofinformation to the communication peer. The transport convergence layer1050 may have th capability to implement the Policies based onimplementation, user preferences, and/or programmable input. This layeralso receives information from the lower layers of the OSI communicationstack, processes it and sends it upwards to the Session Layer 1040. TheTransport Convergence Layer 1020 to provide information, network andresource utilization coordination for easy implementation and seamlessexperience to man and machine apparatus user.

A Transport layer 1060, 1065 offers mechanisms such as informationtransfer with or without loss of details in the information, datarecovery capabilities, and flow control mechanisms. For example, TCP canbe a layer 4 Transport protocol 1050 as defined in OSI.

A network layer 1070, 1075 allows the communicating entities such asTerminal 1, in 1201 and Terminal 2 in 1260 to address each otheruniquely, provide related information to provide related routinginformation, as well as capability to adapt to the limitation ofunderlying Data link and physical Layers 1080, 1085 and 1090, 1095respectively for the Access networks 1220 and 1230, so as to transferinformation with or without the loss of transferred information.

A Data Link Layer 1080, 1085 may participate in formatting information,Transmitting information over the network and may allow error checking,communication start/stop indication and other such functionality. Forexample, Ethernet 802.3 can be a layer 2 protocol as defined by OSI.Different network and protocol characteristics may be defined bydifferent data link layer specifications and the functionality can besubdivided into the Media Access Control (MAC) which controls access andencodes data into a valid signaling format [for the physical layer,1090], and Logical Link Control (LLC), which provides the link to thenetwork [for the Network layer 1070].

A Physical Layer 1090 may included hardware implementation and theelectrical signal level implementation of the bus; network cabling,connector type, pin-out, physical data rates, maximum transmissiondistances, and data transmission encoding. At this layer, information isplaced on the physical network medium such as Ethernet.

The requirement of one or more communicating peers with zero or morecommunication medium must be met over the duration of the communicationand related information transfer. The architecture anticipates that oneor access network 1220, 1230 may become unavailable or intermittentlyavailable during the communication. Similarly, one or more of theconvergence layers 1000 and 1100 proposed her, may not be mandatory fora given the implementation.

The architecture allows communication using the transport convergencelayer 1050 in the architecture to communicate with multiplecommunication mediums in their native mode alternatively orsimultaneously. The session layer or the embodiment thereof in theactual implementation represents a unified communication access schemeto these multiple communication mediums. The use of the convergencelayer at the given location may allow the information transformationthrough existing native implementations required for the consumption byapplication.

Referring now to FIG. 3, there is illustrated a flow diagram describingthe operation of the Transport Convergence Layer 1050 in accordance withan embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the 2010 a requestfor communication can be made either from user or application native tothe device or from the communicating peer such as Terminal 2, 1260 toTerminal 1, 1210. A priori or on demand upon the request, the availablenetworks are identified as in 2020. After the networks are identifiedthe connection request is processed based on the policies for theauthorization to use network and other resources in 2030. Theimplementation may authenticate the access request and also go throughthe other steps such as encryption/decryption, address identifieracquisition based on the given network implementation based on thepolicy. If the policy criteria are not met then the request is declinedin 2050. Otherwise, the request is processed and the connection isestablished in 2060. After the connection is established, theinformation is forwarded to Session Layer at 1040 or Transport Layer1060 of Access Network 1, 1220 or to the Transport Layer 1070 of AccessNetwork 2, as in 1230. The layer transfers the information and the upperlayers transform the information in 2080. The process from 2020 isrepeated until the policy criteria for stopping the process or exitingthe stack is met.

Referring now to FIG. 4, there is illustrated a flow diagram describingthe operation of the Session Convergence Layer 1020 in accordance withan embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the 3010 a requestfor communication can be made either from user or application native tothe device or from the communicating peer such as Terminal 2, 1260 toTerminal 1, 120 transferred through the lower layers. A priori or ondemand upon the request, the available resources are identifiedcorresponding to the request as shown in 3020. After the resources areidentified, the characteristics of these resources are gathered in 3030.The connection request is processed based on the policies for theauthorization to use resources and the availability of these resourceswith other related resources in 3040. The implementation mayauthenticate the access request and also go through the other steps suchas coding/decoding, translation, accounting and other based on the givennetwork implementation and the policy. If the policy criteria are notmet then the request is declined in 3050. Otherwise, the request isprocessed and the profile for the use of the resource is created in3060. The profile is applied and the preprocessing required for the useof the resources is completed. At this time the resources are ready foruse. And the connection is established as well as the acknowledgementfor successful connection may be sent. The information is forwarded toapplication using the resources for consumption at 1010 or presentationLayer 1030 of Access Network 1, 1220 or to the Presentation Layer 1030of Access Network 2, as in 1230. The layer transfers the information andthe lower layers transfers the information in 3080. the process from3020 is repeated until the policy criteria for stopping the process orexiting the stack is met working in conjunction with TransportConvergence Layer 1050. For example, a policy to break all the existingconnection may be implemented provided no connection meeting all thepolicy criteria is available for a specified period of time, e.g. 5minutes.

Referring now to FIG. 5, one embodiment of the invention may comprise amachine-readable medium storing a program comprising executableinstructions implementing the architecture of FIG. 2, or effectuatingthe flow chart in FIG. 3 or FIG. 4. Such program may be executed by aprocessor 5010 or controller. The program may also execute all or partof the instructions set on a coprocessor 5020. The machine-readablemedium may comprise storage mechanisms as shown in 5060. Some examplesof storage may include, for example, but are not limited to, RAM, ROM,DRAM, SDRAM, cache, hard drive, floppy disc, optical disc, or anycombination thereof. The processor 5010, co-processor 5020, controllerand/or machine-readable medium can either be connected via a printedcircuit board, or be integrated as an integrated circuit or anapplication specific integrated circuit. Those skilled in the art willrecognize that physical storage of instructions physically changes themedium upon which it is stored, electronically, magnetically, and/orchemically so that the medium carries machine-readable information.

Such program may received interactive input from one or more of theinput devices as in 5030. Some of the well known examples of inputdevices include keyboard, mouse and others. The program may produceoutput that is consumable for a person, another program, or anapplication in a data, voice, or video format. Audio devices, videodevices and other such devices may be examples of the output devicesshown in 5040. The device may be connected over networks as shown in5070 to other devices. Some examples of connectors are RJ-45, RJ11,Wireless LAN transceiver and others. The networks may include WirelessLAN, Ethernet, Cellular and other such networks.

Although the foregoing detailed description describes certainembodiments with a degree of specificity, it should be noted that theforegoing embodiments are by way of example, and are subject tomodifications, substitutions, or alterations without departing from thespirit of scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is onlylimited by the following claims, and equivalents thereof.

1. An apparatus comprising: one or more machine-readable mediaconfigured to store a program comprising a plurality of executableinstructions; and a processor coupled to the machine-readable media andconfigured to execute the plurality of executable instructions; theprogram configured to facilitate communication with a first accessnetwork and a second access network, the first access network and thesecond access network configured to provide access for a terminal to abackbone network, the second access network configured to operate as analternative to the first access network, the first access networkconfigured to operate as an alternative to the second access network. 2.The apparatus of claim 1, the program configured to: select one networkof the first access network and the second access network; andcommunicate information to or from the selected one network.
 3. Theapparatus of claim 1, the program configured to: receive a userpreference; and select one network of the first access network and thesecond access network according to the user preference.
 4. The apparatusof claim 1, the program configured to: identify information to betransmitted or received; and select one network of the first accessnetwork and the second access network according to the information. 5.The apparatus of claim 1, the first access network comprising a firstselected one of the following, the second access network comprising asecond selected one of the following, the first selected one differentfrom the second selected one: an Internet Protocol (IP) network; awireless access network; a wireless local area network (LAN); and acellular network.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, the program comprising: asession convergence layer comprising a first portion of the plurality ofexecutable instructions; and a transport convergence layer comprising asecond portion of the plurality of executable instructions.
 7. Theapparatus of claim 1, the one or more machine-readable media and theprocessor embodied in a peer.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1, the programconfigured to: determine that there is no connection meeting one or morepolicy criteria; and perform an operation on one or more existingconnections in response to the determination.
 9. The apparatus of claim1, the program configured to: match resource availability between thefirst access network and the second access network.
 10. The apparatus ofclaim 1, the program configured to: match one or more applicationrequirements between the first access network and the second accessnetwork.
 11. The apparatus of claim 1, the program configured to:communicate a first type of media over the first access network; andcommunicate a second type of media over the second access network. 12.The apparatus of claim 1, the program configured to: communicate voiceover the first access network; and communicate video over the secondaccess network.
 13. A method comprising: executing, by a processor, aplurality of executable instructions of a program stored in one or moremachine-readable media; facilitating communication with a first accessnetwork and a second access network according to the program, the firstaccess network and the second access network configured to provideaccess for a terminal to a backbone network, the second access networkconfigured to operate as an alternative to the first access network, thefirst access network configured to operate as an alternative to thesecond access network; selecting one network of the first access networkand the second access network; and communicating information to or fromthe selected one network.
 14. The method of claim 13, the selecting theone network further comprising: receiving a user preference; andselecting one network of the first access network and the second accessnetwork according to the user preference.
 15. The method of claim 13,the selecting the one network further comprising: identifyinginformation to be transmitted or received; and selecting one network ofthe first access network and the second access network according to theinformation.
 16. The method of claim 13, the first access networkcomprising a first selected one of the following, the second accessnetwork comprising a second selected one of the following, the firstselected one different from the second selected one: an InternetProtocol (IP) network; a wireless access network; a wireless local areanetwork (LAN); and a cellular network.
 17. The method of claim 13, theprogram comprising: a session convergence layer comprising a firstportion of the plurality of executable instructions; and a transportconvergence layer comprising a second portion of the plurality ofexecutable instructions.
 18. The method of claim 13, the one or moremachine-readable media and the processor embodied in a peer.
 19. Themethod of claim 13, further comprising: determining that there is noconnection meeting one or more policy criteria; and performing anoperation on one or more existing connections in response to thedetermination.
 20. The method of claim 13, further comprising: matchingresource availability between the first access network and the secondaccess network.
 21. The method of claim 13, further comprising: matchingone or more application requirements between the first access networkand the second access network.
 22. The method of claim 13, furthercomprising: communicating a first type of media over the first accessnetwork; and communicating a second type of media over the second accessnetwork.
 23. The method of claim 13, further comprising: communicatingvoice over the first access network; and communicating video over thesecond access network.
 24. One or more machine-readable media storing aprogram comprising a plurality of executable instructions, the programwhen executed operable to: facilitate communication with a first accessnetwork and a second access network according to the program, the firstaccess network and the second access network configured to provideaccess for a terminal to a backbone network, the second access networkconfigured to operate as an alternative to the first access network, thefirst access network configured to operate as an alternative to thesecond access network; select one network of the first access networkand the second access network; and communicate information to or fromthe selected one network.
 25. The machine-readable media of claim 24,the program further operable to select the one network by: receiving auser preference; and selecting one network of the first access networkand the second access network according to the user preference.
 26. Themachine-readable media of claim 24, the program further operable toselect the one network by: identifying information to be transmitted orreceived; and selecting one network of the first access network and thesecond access network according to the information.
 27. Themachine-readable media of claim 24, the first access network comprisinga first selected one of the following, the second access networkcomprising a second selected one of the following, the first selectedone different from the second selected one: an Internet Protocol (IP)network; a wireless access network; a wireless local area network (LAN);and a cellular network.
 28. The machine-readable media of claim 24, theprogram comprising: a session convergence layer comprising a firstportion of the plurality of executable instructions; and a transportconvergence layer comprising a second portion of the plurality ofexecutable instructions.
 29. The machine-readable media of claim 24, theone or more machine-readable media and the processor embodied in a peer.30. The machine-readable media of claim 24, the program configured to:determine that there is no connection meeting one or more policycriteria; and perform an operation on one or more existing connectionsin response to the determination.
 31. The machine-readable media ofclaim 24, the program configured to: match resource availability betweenthe first access network and the second access network.
 32. Themachine-readable media of claim 24, the program configured to: match oneor more application requirements between the first access network andthe second access network.
 33. The machine-readable media of claim 24,the program configured to: communicate a first type of media over thefirst access network; and communicate a second type of media over thesecond access network.
 34. The machine-readable media of claim 24, theprogram configured to: communicate voice over the first access network;and communicate video over the second access network.